NULCA (the National Utility Locating Contractors Association) released a new analysis on systemic challenges in the one-call process and preventing damage to buried utility infrastructure.

The paper describes how unmapped or poorly mapped facilities, excessive one-call tickets, surging infrastructure projects and outdated one-call architecture have created an unsustainable situation for locating and safely excavating around buried utilities.

The paper reads in part:

"The 811 system was designed roughly fifty years ago for a world processing less than one million locate requests per year. It was made free to excavators to encourage adoption. That made sense in 1974. … Last year, the system processed more than 43.5 million incoming requests, generating nearly 265 million transmissions to facility operators. The architecture has not changed."

Common Ground Alliance (CGA), the national non-profit association dedicated to protecting underground utility lines and the people who dig near them, issued a statement on the NULCA analysis.

"NULCA's new paper underscores the urgent need for all stakeholders — facility owners, excavators, locators and policymakers — to embrace their shared accountability to protect vital underground infrastructure," said Sarah Magruder Lyle, president and CEO of CGA and executive director of the Damage Prevention Action Center (DPAC). "The Common Ground Alliance and the Damage Prevention Action Center are committed to facilitating the collaboration necessary to address systemic challenges, improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the 811 system and achieve our collective goal of significant damage reduction. This, however, requires all stakeholders to commit to addressing these issues."

For more information, visit commongroundalliance.com.